A March gale hissed through the treetops, spinning sudden flurries of an early spring snow into the canopy 10 storeys above our heads. The wind sounded like surf on a distant beach but down on the mossy forest floor of what the province's forestry maps officially designate as DL33, the world was as still as a cemetery.
Its storytelling may have left the critics - and the Academy - cold. But there's no denying James Cameron's digital extravaganza Avatar has inspired tree-huggers the world round, rooted as it is on themes of conserving ancient ecosystems in all their majesty.
Flagging tape in the immediate vicinity of the world's largest Douglas fir does not mean the area will be logged in the near future, according to forest company TimberWest. The marked cutblock, less than 100 metres from the Red Creek Fir, was found by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance who say that if surrounding trees are cut, the 74-metre tall tree will be in danger of blow-down.
The provincial government should not let the mostly undisturbed grove in the Gordon River Valley, nicknamed Avatar Grove, be logged. It is a gem of an ecosystem and with so little of our old-growth forests left, it is not something we can afford to lose. With its proximity to Port Renfrew, it will be very beneficial for bringing in tourists, which will support local economies.
Becoming a field of giant stumps continues to be the fate of many of our last stands of giant trees in southern B.C. and shows a lack of understanding of what draws many people to the best place on Earth.
Filmmaker James Cameron has spoken before about how his Avatar is a cautionary environmental tale. In a MTV interview this week, he says Fox wanted to remove its "treehugging crap," but environmentalists now want to create a curriculum based on it.
Enough is Enough! Saving our Last Ancient Forests and Ending Raw Log Exports - Find out about the new organization and its campaign!
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